Napoleon I: Life, Rise to Power & Legacy of the French Emperor

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Introduction to Napoleon I

Napoleon I, (1769–1821), first emperor of the French, 1804–14. His full name was Napoléon Bonaparte, the French rendering of his original name, Napolione Buonaparte, which was Italian.

Napoleon's career as military commander was marked by supreme triumphs and shattering defeats. His successes came largely from the simplicity of his plans for campaigns and battles and the rapidity with which he executed them. Also important was the conscription system brought on by the French Revolution. Conscription gave France large masses of soldiers to oppose the small professional armies of other European nations.

Napoleon's defeats were caused by a variety of situations. In time, the opposing generals recognized the value of Napoleon's methods and adopted them as their own. Also, by 1812 the number of troops in battle had become so great that commanders were unable to have a clear overview of the situation. Some of Napoleon's marshals had lost their zeal; others failed him on the battlefield. In some cases, Napoleon was simply outgeneraled. He was victorious in his invasion of Russia in 1812, but lack of supplies and the Russian winter combined to turn his homeward march into a disastrous rout.

Napoleon, however, did more than win and lose battles. He came to power when all of France was in a state of near anarchy, and he created an orderly government. By establishing the council of state, the public accounts office, a new system of courts, and the Bank of France, he overcame the chaos that had been brought about earlier by the leaders of the Revolution. The legal code that Napoleon had compiled became the basis for the laws of modern continental Europe, Latin America, Turkey, Quebec, and, in certain respects, Louisiana.

Important dates in Napoleon's life1769 (Aug. 15) Born at Ajaccio, Corsica.1796 (March 9) Married Josephine de Beauharnais.1799 (Nov. 9-10) Seized power in France.1804 (Dec. 2) Crowned himself emperor of the French.1805 (Dec. 2) Crushed the allied armies at Austerlitz.1806 (July 12) Set up the Confederation of the Rhine.1806 (Oct. 14) Defeated the Prussians at Jena and Auerstadt.1807 (June 14) Overwhelmed the Russians at Friedland.1809 (July 5-6) Defeated Austrians at Wagram.1810 (April 2) Married Marie Louise of Austria.1812 (Sept. 14) Occupied Moscow.1814 (April 6) Abdicated his throne.1814 (May 4) Exiled and arrived on Elba.1815 (March 20) Returned to power in France.1815 (June 18) Defeated in the Battle of Waterloo.1815 (Oct. 16) Exiled to St. Helena.1821 (May 5) Died at Longwood on St. Helena.

Early Life (1769–93)

Birth and Boyhood

Napoleon was born on August 15 in Ajaccio, Corsica. He was the second son and fourth child in the family of five boys and three girls of Carlo (Charles) Maria de Buonaparte and his wife, Letizia Ramolino. Both were of noble Italian families.

A year before Napoleon was born, Genoa had ceded Corsica to France. The Corsicans revolted, led by Pasquale di Paoli with Napoleon's father as his adjutant, but were defeated. Buonaparte and other Corsican leaders capitulated to the French.

Napoleon's father got along well with the French and made himself useful to the governor. When Napoleon was approaching 10 years of age and his brother Joseph was 11, the father took them to France and obtained scholarships for them: Joseph in a school for priests, Napoleon in the military school at Brienne.

Here Napoleon, who spoke little French and that with an Italian accent, was discontented and lonely. His classmates gave him the nickname "the Little Corporal." (He was only 5 feet 2 inches [1.6 m] tall.) His chief interests were mathematics, history, and geography. At the age of 15 he was transferred to the Ěcole Militaire in Paris, where he received a year of solid instruction as an officer and artilleryman.

Army Officer

At 16 Napoleon was commissioned second lieutenant of artillery. His regiment was stationed in a succession of small towns, but he had no liking for such garrison life. During 1785–93 he spent nearly five years in more or less regular leaves of absence.

The Buonaparte family and the Corsican patriot Pasquale di Paoli supported the French Revolution when it began in 1789. The revolutionaries in turn made Paoli dictator of the island in 1790 and Napoleon and his brothers were awarded high positions in Corsica. In 1793, however, the Buonaparte family broke with Paoli, when he turned against the French Revolution. Napoleon and his brothers fled to France.

Military Leader (1793–99)

Toulon

In 1792 Austria and Prussia went to war against France in an attempt to destroy the revolutionary government, which they considered a threat to the established order. The following year, they were joined by Great Britain, Holland, and other countries in what came to be called the First Coalition. In August, 1793, French royalists turned over Toulon and the French Mediterranean fleet to the British. The French army was ordered to drive out the British, but failed to act. Napoleon, then a captain of artillery, devised a plan of attack, but it was rejected by his superiors.

Finally, the National Convention (the revolutionary assembly) appointed General Jacques Dugommier to take command. He adopted Napoleon's plan, which involved bombarding a key fort with artillery, and Toulon fell. The British retreated to their ships and sailed away. A large part of the French fleet was left intact, and Napoleon was rewarded with promotion to brigadier general.

Difficulties

In March, 1794, Napoleon was given command of the artillery in the French army in Italy. During the Reign of Terror, he was inspecting and planning fortifications along the Mediterranean. He also went on a diplomatic mission to Genoa. Upon his return to Nice to write his report, he was arrested without warning and charged with treason.

Napoleon had been identified with the Robespierre faction, and Robespierre had fallen on July 27, 1794, and been guillotined. There was no evidence of treason against Napoleon and he soon was released. His situation was precarious, however, and when he objected to being transferred from artillery to infantry, and refused command of an infantry brigade against an insurgent group known as the Vendeans, he was removed from the active officers' list. For a time he had no way of supporting himself and lived in poverty. In August, 1795, he was returned to service in the map department of the war office.

Protector of the Republic

In 1795, the National Convention adopted a constitution that established a five-man executive body called the Directory and a two-chamber legislative assembly. The new constitution would keep most of the members of the Convention in office, and this provoked a royalist insurrection in Paris. Vicomte de Barras, a member of the Convention and commander of the Army of the Interior, remembered Napoleon's success at Toulon and called upon him to lead troops in putting down the rebellion.

To protect the seat of government at the Palais des Tuileries, Napoleon brought in artillery during the night of October 4. Late the following day, a large group of insurgents approached. Napoleon's gunners opened fire and killed many of the rebels on the steps of the nearby Church of Saint Roch, ending the rebellion.

First Marriage

Napoleon was now a hero. He was placed second to Barras in command of the Army of the Interior. Shortly afterwards he met Josephine de Beauharnais, a widow with two children. Her husband, Vicomte de Beauharnais, had been guillotined during the Terror and she had spent three months in prison. Since her release she had lived by her wits and had become a society figure in Paris.

Josephine was six years older than Napoleon, but he was immediately attracted to her. Soon he was deeply in love with her. They were married in a civil ceremony on March 9, 1796. At this time Napoleon adopted the French spelling of his name. Despite Josephine's extravagances and the unfaithfulness of both of them, Napoleon maintained an affection for her to the end, even though later, in his determination to have a legitimate heir, he had the marriage dissolved.

Italian Campaign

The Directory decided that something must be done about the French army in Italy, which was making no progress against the Austrians and their vassal states in northern Italy, The inept commander of the army, General Barthélemi Schérer, was recalled and Napoleon was given his position.

Two days after his marriage, Napoleon left Paris for his new command. At Nice, he found his army—45,000 hungry, poorly clad men. He told them the government could give them little, but that he would lead them into the fertile plains of Italy, where they would find "honor, glory, and riches."

In the next few weeks the inspired French troops under Napoleon's command defeated the Italians and Austrians in every engagement. By the end of May all of northern Italy was in French hands, except for the Austrian garrison at Mantua. Napoleon proceeded to strip the Italian states of cash, gold, jewels, and objects of art. He rewarded his army as promised and sent the rest of the loot to the French government, which under the Directory had become virtually bankrupt. During the summer, in exchange for a promise not to attack them, he received tribute from the Papal States, Parma, Modena, and Naples.

Another campaign began in late July when the Austrians sent new armies against Napoleon. Following a series of successful engagements, Napoleon drove the Austrians completely out of Italy with a victory at the Battle of Rivoli (January 14, 1797) and the capture of the Austrian garrison at Mantua (February 2). Napoleon invaded Austria in March, and on April 18 the Austrians accepted an armistice. This was followed on October 17 by the Treaty of Campo Formio, in which Austria gave up to France the Ionian Islands and Belgium, the west bank of the Rhine, and control of most of Italy. Venice was returned to Austria. The treaty ended the war of the First Coalition.

Napoleon did not return to Paris until December, 1797; he was received as a national hero. He found Talleyrand, who was to become his main political enemy, in charge of the ministry of foreign affairs.

Egyptian Campaign

Great Britain was the only country still at war with France. Napoleon explored the possibilities of an invasion, but decided against it because of the supremacy of the British fleet. He proposed a series of naval campaigns, but money and ships were not available. Next he suggested an invasion of Egypt, which was under the rule of Mameluke overlords and a vassal state of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. Although Egypt was the gateway to the Middle East and India, there was little real justification for the invasion, and, because of France's inadequate navy, it involved serious risks. Nevertheless the Directors were pleased—anything to get Napoleon, whose popularity they saw as a threat to their rule, out of France.

Some 400 French ships sailed from Toulon on May 19, 1798. Not only were the ships carrying an army with 2,000 pieces of artillery, but also aboard were 175 learned civilians with hundreds of boxes full of scientific apparatus and books. Their task was to study everything about ancient Egypt.

Luck Favored the French

On the day before they sailed, a storm scattered Lord Nelson's British ships that were patrolling the Mediterranean. The French reached Malta before the British, and seized the island by a surprise attack. The voyage to Egypt took four weeks, but Nelson was unable to find the French ships.

Napoleon captured Alexandria on July 2, 1798, and marched on toward Cairo. At the Battle of the Pyramids (July 21) he defeated the Egyptian army by routing its main component, the Mameluke cavalry. Cairo was seized the next day, and Napoleon began organizing Egypt into a French protectorate.

Nelson finally found the French fleet and destroyed it in the Battle of the Nile (August 1). In September, with British encouragement, the Ottoman Empire declared war on France, One Turkish army gathered in Rhodes to invade Egypt by sea and a second gathered in Syria for an attack by land.

In February, 1799, Napoleon chose to head off the Turkish land attack by launching an offensive against the Turks in Palestine and Syria. French forces got no further than Palestine, where they seized Jaffa in March, but failed to take Acre, in April. After a plague broke out in his army, Napoleon retreated to Egypt. In July, the Turkish army from Rhodes landed at Abukir. They outnumbered the French two to one, but Napoleon dealt them a crushing defeat.

Now Napoleon learned that the Second Coalition (Great Britain, Austria, Russia, Naples, Portugal, and Turkey) had been formed against France. Nearly all Italy had been lost to combined Austrian and Russian forces under the command of Marshal Alexander Suvorov. Napoleon decided to return to France. On August 20, 1799, he placed General Jean Kléber in command of the army and set sail with two swift little vessels. He landed at Fréjus, France, October 9.

As a military venture, the Egyptian conquest ultimately proved to be a failure, its fate having been sealed by the destruction of the French fleet. Napoleon's prestige did not suffer, however, because it was not until 1801 that the British and Turks succeeded in retaking Egypt. Furthermore, as the Directory proved to be increasingly incompetent Napoleon came to be considered France's one hope. A positive accomplishment of the expedition was the work of the scientific expedition, which made the French leaders in Egyptology for years. The finding of the Rosetta Stone was especially noteworthy.

The Consulate (1800–04)

Steps to Power

Napoleon's arrival in France was met with popular acclaim. Napoleon traveled to Paris at a leisurely pace, and was greeted along the way with great enthusiasm. In Paris he joined with Abbé Sieyès, a member of the Directory, in a plot to do away with that body, which had become increasingly unpopular., The coup d'etat began on November 9, 1799, and after some floundering was successfully completed the next day.

First Consul

A new government was formed, headed by three consuls—Bonaparte, Pierre Ducos, and Sieyfès. Napoleon became first consul. As head of the government, he set about consolidating his power and working to establish internal order in France. To accomplish his purposes, he wanted a period of peace. (France had been at war for nine years.) He sent letters to Francis I of Austria and George III of Britain, proposing an end to the fighting. His offers were ignored. He then sent General Moreau to fight the Austrians along the Rhine, while he prepared a new Italian campaign, also against the Austrians.

Napoleon organized an army of 37,000 men. In May, 1800, his army climbed the Great St. Bernard pass, dragging their cannon on sleighs made of cut-down trees. He entered Milan on June 2. Twelve days later he defeated an Austrian army at Marengo.

Napoleon sent another letter to the Austrian emperor, proposing peace. The Austrians were stubborn, however, and it was not until after Moreau's victory at Hohenlinden on December 3 that peace was achieved. The Treaty of Lunéville was signed on February 9, 1801.

The British were undefeated, but they, too, were tired of war. A preliminary treaty was accepted on October 1, 1801. The formal treaty, the Peace of Amiens, was signed March 27, 1802, ending the war of the Second Coalition.

Napoleon had also devoted attention to France's internal conditions. He centralized the administration of government, a reform still in effect. In 1800 he established the Bank of France and stabilized the currency; less than a year later, France had a balanced budget. To provide distinctions for those who became outstanding in their work, either military or civilian, he founded the Légion d'Honneur in 1802.

Almost immediately after becoming first consul, Napoleon appointed committees of prominent jurists to draft a legal code under his direction. The result was the civil code adopted in 1804 and named the Code Napoléon in 1807. After Napoleon's downfall, it was renamed the Code Civil. It became the basis for law reform in many parts of the world.

Napoleon also ended the conflict that had existed between the French government and the Roman Catholic Church since 1790. Under the Concordat of 1801, the Roman Catholic Church was reestablished, but Protestants were guaranteed religious liberty.

On August 4, 1802, a new constitution was proclaimed. Under it, Napoleon, who had previously been made a consul for 10 years, was made consul for life and given authority to name his successor.

Peace with Great Britain lasted little more than a year. On April 26, 1803, the British sent an ultimatum that meant war. Among other things, it called for France to give up control of Holland. To obtain gold to finance the coming war, Napoleon decided early in May to sell to the United States the vast territory of Louisiana.

Britain declared war against France on May 18, but hostilities were slow in starting. Britain commanded the oceans; France was supreme on the continent. Supporting France was Spain, which had been a passive ally since 1796.

Emperor (1804–14)

Assassination Attempt

In February, 1804, a royalist plot against Napoleon's life was discovered. Its ringleaders were put to death. Suspicion also fell on the Duke of Enghien, a member of the Bourbon family. He was kidnapped from neutral territory in Baden, brought to Vincennes, court-martialed, and, despite clear evidence of his innocence, put to death on Napoleon's orders. His execution outraged Europe.

Napoleon Declared Emperor

In May, 1804, Napoleon proceeded to make himself emperor. He prodded the French Senate into adopting a proposal declaring that it was in the highest interest of the French people "to entrust the government of the Republic to an hereditary Emperor." This was put to a vote of the people and accepted by 3,582,329 to 2,579.

Coronation

Pope Pius VII was persuaded to come to Paris and take part in the coronation. Napoleon and Josephine solemnized their marriage by a church ceremony. On December 2, the coronation ceremony was held in Notre Dame Cathedral. Napoleon, who had not kneeled, took the crown from the Pope, faced the assemblage, and crowned himself. He then crowned the kneeling Josephine.

Plan to Invade Great Britain. In 1804 Napoleon decided to attempt an invasion of Great Britain. A flotilla of barges was assembled and an army was made ready at Boulogne. France had to control the English Channel long enough for the transport of troops to the British coast. The French plan was for Admiral Villeneuve's combined French and Spanish fleet to sail to the West Indies, where it would be joined by two French fleets. Napoleon hoped that the British would be alarmed for the safety of their colonies and move their fleets out of European waters to protect their overseas possessions. The combined fleets would then return quickly to France to take at least temporary control of the channel.

The French plan did not work. Of the British fleets, only that of Lord Nelson left home waters. The British blocked one of the French fleets at Brest, France, and the other failed to meet Villeneuve's through bad timing. Villeneuve sailed from the West Indies to Cadiz, Spain, where his fleet was blockaded by Nelson. The invasion could not be attempted.

Third Coalition

The British organized the Third Coalition against France on August 9, 1805. Joining Great Britain were Russia, Austria, and Sweden. Prussia for the time being chose to remain neutral.

Napoleon with great speed moved his forces (now called the Grand Army) east to meet the Austrians. At Ulm, in Germany, on October 17, 1805, he defeated and caused the surrender of 28,000 Austrians under General Karl Mack.

Taking the luster off Napoleon's victory at Ulm was the destruction of Villeneuve's fleet by Lord Nelson's in the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21. The battle was forced when Villeneuve reluctantly complied with Napoleon's order to move his fleet out of Cadiz and into the Mediterranean to support French operations in Italy. The British victory destroyed French naval -power.

Napoleon arrived in Vienna on November 14. His army moved northward and defeated the Russians and Austrians at Austerlitz (now Slavkov, Czech Republic) on December 2. Military historians consider the Battle of Austerlitz one of Napoleon's most brilliant tactical achievements. On the day after Christmas, 1805, Napoleon dictated to the Austrians the Treaty of Pressburg.

The surrender of Austria eliminated the country from the Third Coalition. Although Great Britain, Russia, and Sweden remained at war, they were not able to field effective armies against Napoleon.

Reorganization of Europe

During the respite in fighting that followed Austerlitz, Napoleon was free to reshape Europe. He placed his relatives on various European thrones. Three of his brothers were made kings: Joseph in Naples, Louis in Holland, and Jerôme in Westphalia. His brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, was made a grand duke of the German state of Berg.

Napoleon reorganized Germany by abolishing the Holy Roman Empire and replacing it with the French-controlled Confederation of the Rhine in 1806. Many small German states were consolidated into bigger domains.

Fighting Resumes

Alarmed at Napoleon's actions in its neighboring German states, Prussia on October 1, 1806, sent an ultimatum demanding that the French give up control of the Confederation of the Rhine. Upon its rejection, Prussia and Saxony entered the war against Napoleon. On October 14, Napoleon crushed the army of General Hohenlohe at Jena while Marshal Davout with only 27,000 men routed a Prussian army of 63,000 men at nearby Auerstadt.

In 12 days Napoleon was in Berlin. He pushed his army eastward and, after some hard-fought but indecisive engagements, defeated the Russians and remnants of the Prussian forces at Friedland on June 13, 1807. A truce was requested and Napoleon met with young Czar Alexander. Their talks produced the Treaty of Tilsit, signed on July 6. Under its terms, Prussia surrendered all its territory west of the Elbe River, from which Napoleon created a vassal state of France called the Duchy of Warsaw. Russia renounced its alliance with Great Britain and agreed to take part in the Continental System—a trade boycott against Britain by France and all countries allied to or controlled by it.

In addition, Russia agreed to go to war against Sweden, which was defeated the following year. Only Britain was left from the Third Coalition to oppose Napoleon.

Napoleon's Empire

The empire over which Napoleon ruled extended from Hamburg to Rome and to the west bank of the Rhine. He was not only emperor of the French, but king of Italy, mediator of the Swiss Confederation, and protector of the Confederation of the Rhine. By 1810 there were seven kingdoms and 30 principalities that were vassals of France.

Peninsular War

In 1807 French troops invaded Portugal, passing through Spain with the permission of the Spanish government. The following year, Napoleon decided to take control of Spain. As 100,000 French troops poured into Spain, Napoleon was able to force the king to abdicate and the crown prince to renounce his claim to the throne. Napoleon then placed his brother Joseph on the throne. The Spanish people rose up in arms against the French occupying army.

Great Britain sent an army under the Duke of Wellington to help the Spanish, as well as the Portuguese, and for four years French forces were kept occupied on the Iberian peninsula, although Napoleon needed them elsewhere.

War Against Austria

Austria in April, 1809, declared war on France. Within a month Napoleon was in Vienna. His army was checked, however, at Aspern and at Essling. At Wagram, on July 5, the Austrians were defeated. He then imposed on Austria the Treaty of Schönbrunn, taking from Austria the Illyrian provinces (in what are now Slovenia and Croatia).

Second Marriage

Napoleon's determination to found a hereditary dynasty caused him to dissolve his marriage with Josephine, who could not bear him an heir. Now 40 years of age, he requested the hand of the 18-year-old Archduchess Marie Louise, daughter of the Austrian emperor. He married her by proxy on March 11 and formally in a church wedding on April 2, 1810. The desired son was born on March 11, 1811, and was given the title King of Rome.

Invasion of Russia

Now 42, Napoleon seemed to be supreme in Europe, but Alexander—encouraged by Napoleon's old political rival Talleyrand—turned against him. The czar renounced the Continental System in 1810, and Russia prepared to join a coalition against Napoleon.

Napoleon assembled an immense force for its time, 600,000 men, of which fewer than 200,000 were French; the remainder were German, Austrian, Polish, and Italian. On June 24, 1812, Napoleon launched the invasion of Russia. The Russians retreated, burning villages and destroying crops and farm animals, leaving nothing of value to Napoleon's forces. Napoleon pursued them with amazing speed. Under General Mikhail Kutuzov, the Russian army made a stand at Borodino and was defeated in a bloody battle on September 7.

Napoleon entered Moscow a week later. The next day, the city was on fire. Moscow, except for the Kremlin, was almost completely destroyed, but Napoleon stayed in the city for five weeks hoping to negotiate a peace with Alexander. Nothing came of these efforts, and lack of supplies gave Napoleon no choice but to lead his victorious army homeward. The march soon turned into a disaster. Starvation, cold weather, and disease, as well as harassing attacks by Kutuzov's forces, reduced the Grand Army to a disorganized mob and decimated its ranks. No more than 30,000 reached the Polish border on December 12. More than a half million had been lost in Russia.

Defeat and Abdication

On December 5 Napoleon left the remains of the army under command of Murat and hastened to Paris, arriving on December 18. A plot against him fell apart, and he raised a new army. Another coalition (Britain, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia) had been formed. He forced the retreat of the Prussians and Russians in the Battle of Lützen on May 2, 1813, and defeated them at Bautzen on May 20–21. Peace negotiations opened in June but broke down after a few weeks. Austria joined the coalition, and at the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig on October 16–17 the French were crushed.

Napoleon rushed to Paris and raised still another army. Even though the French were overwhelmingly outnumbered, Napoleon, in an outstanding display of generalship, managed to inflict humiliating defeats on the coalition powers in virtually every engagement. In the end, however, the enemy numbers were too much and before Napoleon could rush to defend Paris the coalition armies, after overcoming token resistance, took the city on March 31, 1814. On April 6, Napoleon agreed to abdicate unconditionally. During the night of April 12 he attempted suicide.

Napoleon was granted sovereignty over the island of Elba, allowed as a courtesy to retain the title of emperor, and promised an income of 2,000,000 francs a year. There, for a time, he devoted himself to the study of science and mathematics and the reorganization of the island's government.

The Hundred Days

In France, the Bourbons had returned to power in the person of Louis XVIII, brother of the guillotined Louis XVI. The Congress of Vienna was haggling over the reorganization of Europe. Dissatisfaction with the rule of the Bourbons was increasing as they raised taxes and dismissed thousands of persons from the army and administration. Many people feared that followers of the Bourbons were becoming powerful enough to regain the old privileges of the aristocracy at the expense of the liberties the people had gained by the revolution.

Napoleon was informed of all this. To him France seemed to be in as bad condition as it had been under the Directory. He remembered his return from Egypt in 1799. So again he returned. Leaving Elba on February 26, 1815, he landed in France near Antibes on March 1. He had only a few followers when he landed, but before he reached Paris on March 20 regiment after regiment of the French army had rallied to his standard. Louis XVIII fled the capital.

Always ready to adapt himself to conditions as he found them, Napoleon proposed peace. The other European powers, however, could not tolerate his return to power. The allies assembled troops in Belgium and Napoleon hoped to defeat them before they could form a single, united force. His plan failed, and at Waterloo, Belgium, on June 18, 1815, he was soundly beaten by troops under the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blücher.

Napoleon returned to Paris, and on June 22, 1815, he signed his second abdication in favor of his son. (The son was proclaimed Napoleon II but never reigned.) Louis XVIII returned to France on June 28–100 days after Napoleon had arrived in Paris from Elba.

St. Helena

The French government ordered Napoleon to leave the country, and after some indecision, he surrendered to the British. They exiled him with a few companions on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.

There Napoleon spent six years, writing his memoirs and quarreling with the commandant, Sir Hudson Lowe. He died on May 5, 1821, of a chronic stomach ailment, which most historians attribute to either cancer or an ulcer, A few historians, however, believe that evidence points to long-term arsenic poisoning. They speculate that the arsenic was administered by a member of Napoleon's staff who was a secret supporter of the Bourbons, whose rule was threatened as long as Napoleon remained alive.

In 1840, King Louis Philippe had Napoleon's body moved to Paris, where it has lain since 1861 in the Dôme des Invalides.